Recording Studio Tour

I really liked the Pachyderm Studio tour, it was more like a resort than a recording studio.  They had a pretty big piece of land out in the middle of the forest that created a really relaxed environment which would be really important for artists or clients.  I also liked that fact that they had guest houses where their clients were welcome to stay while they were using the facilities which would be really nice if they had to travel a ways to get to the studio.  They also seemed to have a really nice studio set up with a ton of equipment, none of which I knew what they were however.  They had a lot of big names bands use their studio such as Nirvana and Live.  This was by far my favorite one, if I was a musician this is where I would want to go!
I was not a big fan of the Radio Ready Recording Studio, there wasn't anything that really stood out to me although they claimed to have worked with a lot of big name companies such as Universal.  I did like that they help bands or individuals promote their music however, it showed that they really do care about their clients.  They also offered a pretty inexpensive rate to use their facilities which would be really good for beginning musicians.

The Screening Room

I watched the video "Force 1 TD" it was about a group of roommates, one who was visually impaired and had a miniature guide horse because he was allergic to horses.  This guide horse, Carmen, was quite original because he was always wearing sneakers, nice ones at that from Air Jordans to Nikes, all of which were custom fit for his hooves.  Lewis, the owner of the horse would carry around ziploc bags to put over his shoes when he went to the bathroom so he wouldn't get any stains on them.  These three roommates went on a short road trip to get Carmen a new pair of gold sneakers to complete his prom outfit running into a few speed bumps along the way.

I thought this was a really cute film, short and sweet.  I have worked with guide animals in the past which is the main reason that this filmed jumped out at me.  Lewis had a really special bond with Carmen, and his roommates would do anything to help either of them out.  This story showed really good morals, that no matter how different you are you should still be treated with all the care and respect you deserve.

Warner Bros. VIP Studio Virtual Tour

I think it would be really cool to go on one of these tours, to actually see some of the stages and possibly some of the actors from your favorite shows.  It would almost make you feel like you are a part of it because you have been there before, and from then on every time you watch that show you could actually say "I was there!"  It is amazing that so many different big name actors and shows are all in the same place.  I have always been a fan of Ellen Degeneres, and it's for reasons like those videos showed, she loves to surprise people and is a big jokester.  If I ever make it on one of these tours I would hope I get to see her or some other of my favorite actors.

The Weather Channel Virtual Tour

I really liked that when they designed this studio, they were environmentally conscious which is a big deal in today's society.  They said they used certain types of paints, sealants, and carpets that would ultimately eliminate or reduce items that contribute to ozone depletion.  I also thought it was really cool that the actual achor's desk was on a swivel, so it would be positioned in a multitude of ways around the studio depending on what was being reported.  It would also be nice that the cameras are robotically controlled, however that means that more people are out of a job which is never a good thing either.  I never knew that you had to make such profound adjustments to the studio when you are shooting in HD, a four-story tall studio seems a bit drastic if you ask me.
When I saw that they had so much lighting which a large number of circuits in the studio, I was not surprised but when they said that every one had its own backup I wondered how they could claim to be so environmentally friendly after all.  I thought the idea of the swiveling green screen was pretty neat as well, it would make room for other things rather than installing multiple green screens throughout the studio.
Overall I really like the tour, however I'm not sure if it was my computer being slow or if it was the actual website.  It seemed like it took a while for things to get loaded and to figure out exactly what or where you clicked.

New York Times Virtual Tour

I would have never guessed that you would need such a huge building to publish a newspaper but then again I'm no expert.  I thought that the exterior feature of the bars to block some sunlight was a strange idea.  I would think that you would want as much sunlight to get into that building as you can to decrease the overall need for indoor lighting.  I understand that they are wanting a more private type of environment, but I don't fully understand why they would just put a bunch of bars around the building, personally I would feel like I was in a prison.  I was not able to access the other parts of the virtual tour for some reason so I cannot give my full assessment.  I have always hated working behind a desk, so I know this would not be the type of building I would want to be stuck in, but for those who don't mind working behind a desk, this seems like a nice place to work.

State of the Media

When I was reading through some of the stats this website presented I was very surprised.  I would never have guessed that there has been a decline in the viewing audiences of the key news slots, I would have assumed that these areas would have increased in their audience numbers.  However, when you really begin to think about it, it seems more reasonable that people are drawing their attention elsewhere to get their news.  Especially when there is so many bias opinions on many of the main news networks, people don't want their news reported in a way that makes it seems like something that it is not, they want the truth not a modified version of it.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the increase or steadying of the newspaper distribution however.  With everything that I have learned about the shift towards more technological forms of news, I would have assumed that many newspapers would soon be out of business within the next decade.  I realize that in order to survive the technological advances of our society, many companies are going digital.  Whether they are offering a digital subscription to their newspaper or magazine, or adding other features to their printed documents that can be accessed online for further information or details.
I did expect a huge increase in the advertising that is directed towards mobile devices, but I would have never guess such a dramatic increase of 80% in just one year.  Especially since the majority of these advertisements are being directed through just a few companies such as Pandora and Facebook.  Those who are in charge of a companies marketing are realizing that in order to get the attention of more people, you need to be where they are, wherever they are, which is with their mobile devices.

Ethical Decision Making

Accuracy and Fairness:

Reading the first case study entitled "Miracle Match" which dealt with the doctor who saved a young girl's life but was found to have a criminal record.  In this situation I would avoid revealing this information about him, it seems that lately the media only wants to release the bad side of things because they may be more exciting or shocking to their audiences.  Although I do not condone his past activities, if he has paid his dues for his mistakes there is no reason that he should have to continue to do so, years later.  Even though I may not expose the individual, chances are someone will.  Once one person finds out, it will spread like wild fire, as scandals like this one usually do.

Conflicts of Interest:

In such an extreme and obvious conflict of interest situation such as discussed in the case study "Cokie's Conflict of Interest" it can really get in the way of accurate and complete reporting.  However, after learning about just how biased some news networks are, it was no surprise that they did not see a problem with Cokie's volunteer services.  In most other professions this would not be allowed, because it just doesn't really seem to make much sense; having to sacrifice aspects of your work life or personal life to benefit the other, does not benefit you at all.

Internet Safety

It is no doubt that Internet safety is a growing issue among younger children.  They can not always detect a bad situation and are naturally trusting.  Along with many other situations they will encounter in their lives, proper education about how to handle it is very important for their well-being and overall safety.  Just as we were always taught no to talk to strangers and definitely don't take candy from them, the same theory applies to the Internet.  With the proper education children will known how to spot a dangerous situation and what type of behavior is appropriate for children on the Internet.  These games are a great way to help children learn about these behaviors, but at the same time they could also just learn this from their parents.
I never liked fact the more and more families are relying on their schooling, television, or other technology to teach their children some important life lessons.  However in the current generations, technology is much more commonly used that it has been in previous years which comes as no surprise.        Children are becoming more and more dependent on this technology because they were born into it and have always used it, so for this generation I think these games would be very beneficial.  Although I found them rather boring myself, and somewhat cheesy I believe younger children might find them enjoyable.  I like that they incorporated a superhero theme in one game and used animals in the other, so a wider variety of children would want to play them.

Censoring Filthy Dirty Muck

 I have always been on the anti-censorship side of the argument.  I don’t believe it is the right of the media or government to control where our sense of morals are, or should be.  It should be our own right, or responsibility, to decide for our family and us a sense of decency and morals.  If we begin to allow the government to tell us what is right or what is wrong, what is allowed or prohibited then we in a way allow them to control our way of thinking.  While I encourage the labeling of films, music, television, and other forms of media I do not support the complete censorship of media. 

            It is our responsibility to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.  Parents what to be able to protect their children from violence or other graphic material and can easily do so today with the use of parental controls.  On most cable programs, parents have the opportunity to block certain content from their children’s view.  The same can be said with the Internet, certain firewalls can be set up to avoid certain websites from being accessed, only with a password can these sites be viewed.  Most legally downloaded music that contains vulgar language has an edited version that uses less offensive language than can be downloaded instead, on sites like iTunes and Napster.  With all of these options out there I don’t think the government needs to tell us what to do, or what is right; we are capable of making our own decisions.

            Not everything can be censored from home however.  I do not know of anyway that a certain radio station can be blocked, so maybe censorship in this particular media would be acceptable.  Still in this situation, it would be our own judgment and decision to choose which stations we listen to and those we don’t.  This is the case for normal AM/FM stations, however with newer forms of radio such as XM and Sirus Radio, more explicit content is available on some channels.  These forms of radio are becoming more and more available as it becomes more popular in vehicles and in homes.  However some companies take it upon themselves to censor our material for us.  

Green Screen Show

I never realized just how much today's films and television shows incorporate this green screen technology, until after I watched the ChromaKey video on YouTube.  It is absolutely amazing what they can create these blank backgrounds into with todays high-tech computers and software.  From now on I am going to constantly question whether the background is real or not...

Green screen technology works with the use of computers which tunes into the green color and replaces every green pixel with a pixel from another image.  A camera is aimed at the green background and sends this information to a switcher or a chroma key device.  The camera outputs a very high voltage from the image; once the output of green from the camera matches that of the chroma key device the green from the camera "disappears."  This allows for a matte or some other video to be superimposed on the background  This technology can be implemented using any color, but green is the easiest for most modern cameras to pick up, which helps the editor to create a much clearer image.  Other colors are also much more common in wardrobes and lighting so are avoided because they result in a patchy image.  The goal is to get a solid background which the editor can then remove with software

One of my favorite TV shows, Grey's Anatomy, was featured a few times in the YouTube video and I never would have guessed it was a green screen.  Although now it seems like it should have been obvious, using a big blank screen as your background would probably be a lot cheaper than lighting a giant ship on fire.  However my absolute favorite example of the green (or blue) screen technology was in Avatar, like many others will most likely agree.  Not only did they use a blue screen, but the actors also used a special type of blue suit so their characters too were completely computer generated!

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/03/06/how-green-screen-works/

http://www.instructables.com/answers/how-does-a-green-screen-work-Why-is-it-green/

The Great Train Robbery

I can't imagine watching a movie without any sounds besides the background music.  This goes back to the "Old Time Radio Shows" blog;  growing up with color televisions and movies with words it is a very different experience to watch an older movie like this one.  I was really surprised by the bursts of color that were added to the movie which made it a little more enjoyable.  Although the music didn't always seem to go with the design it was still an interesting plot.  The acting was a bit questionable at that, especially when someone was shot; they had very different reactions than what you would think would be typical of a person getting shot, but instead they throw their hands up in the hair and twirl around.  There were quite a few spots that I laughed at, not sure if they were truly meant to be somewhat comical or not though.

Personally I am more a fan of the old radio shows as opposed to this, but back then I'm sure there was quite a fascination when these short films first came about.  If it would have been too much longer I probably wouldn't have finished watching it because it was hard to keep focused on the film at times, almost like the boring films you have to watch in class sometimes about subjects you really don't care to learn about all that much.

Blue Store or Redbox

I never liked Blockbuster, they were always so expensive and would charge you ridiculous amounts in late fees.  The only good thing about Blockbuster was that when you went into their stores, you could buy all your popcorn and candies right there, although they too were ridiculously priced.  I recently learned about their online service they are offering which sounds like a great idea, and I like the idea that you can return your watched DVDs to the store and exchange them for a new one free of charge, but there is just one problem with that.  The only Blockbuster location in Manhattan, closed its doors a few years ago, so this feature wouldn't be very useful to me.
     I like the convenience of Redbox, there is one right up the street from me and they are definitely affordable, long as you remember to return them.  They also offer a lot of promo codes that allow you to get one night free, I haven't paid for a Redbox rental in a long time!  They have a decent selection of movies, but a lot of the time when a popular movie first goes into Redbox, it is hard to actually get your hands on it because everyone else wants it.  I like the feature they just started using where you can go online and check if the movie you want is at your Redbox location, and if it is, you can reserve it and it will be waiting for you to pick up.
    When Netflix first started up, it seemed to good to be true.  A flat rate of only $10 or so a month would get you unlimited access to online movies and mail in movies.  After they changed their prices, I dumped them.  It seemed like quite a drastic increase in price that they were just trying to slide by their customers without them noticing.  It pissed me off, so I decided to end my subscription.  Their online selection is decent, they have a lot of shows that I watch, but their movies are terrible.  They never seem to update their "Recently Added" section and when they do it is always some strange anime film.  If I were willing to pay double the price almost, I would have access to a much wider selection of movies, but I don't want to wait days to watch a movie that I want to watch now.

Old Time Radio Shows

I listened to some Benny Goodman, I remember my grandpa telling me about him when I was younger so I thought I would give him a try.  We both agree that I was born a couple generations late, so he thought I would really enjoy him.  After being exposed to TV for my entire life, at first it was rather difficult to pay attention because it was just a bunch of old time music, but then I started to really start listening to the lyrics.  Songs like "The Lady is a Tramp" among many other questionably titles songs were played.
Since I have been exposed to color TV my entire life, I am not used to having to visualize everything for myself when I am watching my favorite shows so it was a completely different experience.  But this is just the same thing we have to do when we read a book, we imagine what the characters look like, what their house looks like, their town, their cars, etc.    Back in the olden golden days, I think radio shows like this one were a great way to get the family together.  Unlike today where we can watch our TV shows whenever we want between reruns and the Internet, these shows played one time, at a certain time and were not repeated (or at least I don't think that they do.)  I can just imagine a family sitting around the radio after dinner listening to their favorite shows together before they call it a night.
After listening to Benny Goodman, I tried out some westerns.  I always watched westerns with my grandpa, one of the only things he ever watched on TV.  I liked watching them on TV so I was curious to how I would like them on the radio.  At first it was hard to understand what was going on, obviously I am not a regular listener.  Back then, I'm sure listeners knew exactly who was talking just by the sound of their voice or their personality.  If I actually knew what was going on, I think it would make them more enjoyable.

Napster or iTunes?

I have always used iTunes, never even tried Napster.  It was a pretty simple choice for me because when I purchased my first iPod, they automatically give you all the software you need to install iTunes on your computer and it makes it really easy to get music onto your mp3.  While reading the reviews for Napster, although some features sound better than what is offered with iTunes, I think I will stick to iTunes.  I like the idea of the subscription plan where you can download as much as you want, but I didn't like that fact that after you decided you didn't want to pay for a subscription any longer, all your songs downloaded from Napster would no longer play... seems like a waste of money.  It also mentioned that if you purchase the subscription option, it was not compatible with iPods.  This is the main reason why I would not use Napster, I transfer all of my songs from my computer to my iPod so that I can have them where ever I go, it wouldn't make much sense to carry around my computer while I'm on a run or in the car.  I also enjoys iTunes more because they have more than just music available for download, they have movies, tv shows, podcasts, and much more which is something that I think Napster will soon need to adopt if they hope to continue to successfully compete with iTunes.

The End of Paper

If the newspaper has any hope of continuing, they are going to have to learn to adapt to the ever changing technology which plays such a big role in our lives today.  After reading the article, "The End of Paper?" it made me realize this was not going to be as simple as many thought.  The article was written four years ago so obviously technology has advanced since then, especially e-books and tablets which the article focuses on.  I do hope that the newspapers will be able to adapt their ways to continue to be successful, but it will be much harder than anticipated.  I think that if enough people were willing to buy subscriptions to magazines and newspapers when they were in their original paper forms, it should be no problem to get consumers to purchase them electronically if they have the technology to do so.  Once the technology of e-books and tablets becomes even more common, the market for publishers will grow and therefore will be easier to gain revenue from their consumers.  Personally, I prefer to have the actually newspaper or magazine in front me rather on a digital screen, but as publishers have to adapt to up and coming technology so do we.

Let's Ban Books

When I was looking through the top 10 children's books that were banned, I was shocked.  Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, these were stories that I grew up to, and I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to ban them.  One comment that I thought was completely absurd was the reason why James and the Giant Peach was banned, because it contained to word "ass"... you have to be kidding me.  Sure I remember if we were reading a book in class and the work "ass" was in there everyone had a little giggle, but other than that there was no detrimental effects to our livelihood.  I have always been against banning books, if you are against the context of a certain book I have a simple solution for you, DON'T READ IT!  People expect everyone to have the same beliefs as they do and if they don't, they shouldn't be heard.
When I heard that dictionaries were banned from schools I didn't even believe it.  But sure enough, because a parent found the definition of "oral sex" in the dictionary it needed to be banned.  First of all, what was this parent looking for the in the dictionary that they came across this and became so offended.  Secondly, if you don't want your child to learn what it is from a dictionary, what are you going to tell them if they ask you what it is??  Absolutely ridiculous if you ask me.  I hate the fact that classic books that have had such an impact on their readers and society, are being banned because a few people don't agree with the message.  If it were up to me, I would not allow the banning of books, as I stated before, if you don't like it, don't read it!

Poor Richard

"Quarrels never could last long,

If on one side only lay the wrong."

Just think of the last time you got into a fight whether that be with your spouse, parents, or friends.  Chances are you were not 100% right, and they were not 100% wrong.  The definition of a quarrel is an angry argument or disagreement, typically between people who are on good terms.  If one side of the argument was completely inaccurate, it would not take much to disprove it, and vice versa.  Although this is not always the case, each side has some sort of wrong doing they aren't acknowledging.  

It was really difficult to just pick one quote to discuss, because so many of them were easily related to.  You would think that a bunch of things written in the early 18th century would be no longer valid in current society, when in fact they are very relevant.  

Social Interaction

When I first thought about the Internet effects social interactions, it seemed really obvious that of course they inhibit interactions, but after really thinking about what people use the Internet for it didn't seem to be such a simple answer.  Just as the article "Social Media: The Internet and Social Interaction" by Sandra D. Delgado discussed, using the Internet gives individuals a much broader spectrum of people to interact with.  These people/businesses are able to reach people who otherwise would be impossible to come into contact with.  Although for businesses it may be more beneficial to reach a higher number of people, for an individual, quality of an interaction is usually more important that the quantity of interactions.  I believe that the Internet has the ability to make interactions easier or simpler, whatever you want to call it, but is not always able to help those interactions move into more personal relationships.  

Overall, I think that the Internet does hinder real social interactions among people.  The Internet can help to begin many interactions among individuals, but I think that real person to person interactions are vitally important to our lives.  As Delgado mentioned at the end of her article, there is no replacing seeing your dog roll in the snow and experience their happiness first hand, and listening to an album downloaded from your computer only lets you see (or hear) one side of the artist's lifestyle however when you attend a live concert and see how that artist interacts with the crowd and with others in the band.  There is no way to replace real social interaction, no matter what the technology may develop into.

CBS Thought

Convenience, that is what society today is all about.  This can be seen in almost all aspects of life from the food we eat to the gadgets we buy, they are all designed to make our lives easier and more convenient.  Jeff Greenfield uses the word convergence to describe how nearly all forms of media and information are now all combined onto one form of media, he then stated that this convergence of media shifts the power from the providers to the users.  This statement really stood out to me.  From society's desire for convenience, companies that once distributed other forms of media, like the newspaper, serve relatively no purpose anymore.  It is one thing to make things convenient for yourself, but when that has a negative effect on society or yourself, too much of a good thing can easily become a bad thing.  

Communication today is much different than it was just ten years ago, rather than just pick up the phone and call somebody, people resort to texting.  This form of communication changes the way people talk to each other, the shortened words and acronyms can be hard to keep up with and I believe it does affect people's grammatical skills overall.  Along with the grammatical errors in texting, the content of some text messages can be misinterpreted.  You could say one thing and because the reader can't hear or see you, it may be understood as something completely different.  I also think that people will say a lot of things that they would never say to another person directly because through text messaging, they feel that they have more power.  

I definitely agree with Greenfield on his last message about keeping the fundamentals.  I think people have overlooked or forgotten the importance of direct communication.  Younger generations will have no idea what "clear vivid language" is when they mature and I find that very sad.  This is part of the reason that more and more children who reach junior high and even high school still can't understand what they are reading in their textbooks or newspapers.  

Media Junkie

After taking the internet junkie test, it revealed that I was an average online user.  It got me to thinking what exactly is considered an average user... With all the increasing technology these days, and with almost everything beginning to be computerized I feel that the "average" media user is always increasing.  Compared to the rest of my family, having an older brother and my parents, I think am I the least "media active."  It is impossible to get through dinner without my brother texting his girl of the week, or my mom playing on her tablet.  My dad however is like me, we keep it old school.  Just setting up this blog and everything for this class I was a little bit lost.  Being a young person, people expect me to know my way around all this new technology, but I have no clue.  My media usage consists of course of the texting and Facebook which, I think is a part of everyones life these days.  Ever since I got a smart phone, I notice I am checking my Facebook a lot more than I did when I just used a computer.  I have never been one to play online games or any kind of video game and I don't have cable at my house so I hardly watch any TV either.  I do have a Netflix account however, and whenever I start watching a show I seem to watch about six or seven episodes at a time, and before I know it, there is no more to watch! 

Most of the time I spend using various types of media, is purely for entertainment and is definitely not a productive use of my time, however, thanks to Pinterest I have found many great ideas and quick tips to make life a little easier at times.  I don't remember the last time that I sat down to complete an assignment, and didn't check my emails, or Facebook, or pin a few things on my Pinterest boards.  Overall I think it does help keep me sane, because using a computer for all work and no play would just be no fun at all! :)